Check out the Windows Vista SP1 Gaming Performance Comparison Chart

Well, we now have the Windows Vista SP1 Gaming Performance Comparison Chart. As usual XP scores well over Vista and Vista SP1 doesn't gain much advantage over a Vista machine without SP1.



The single-GPU GeForce 8800 GTX did experience gains(though not significant) in games like Call of Duty 4 and Oblivion when we compared Windows Vista to Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 installed. Performance stayed mostly flat in most other popular games. Pairing up two 8800 GTXs for an SLI setup yielded similar results. When we compare Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 to Windows XP SP2, the GeForce 8800 GTX kept up in Call of Duty 4 and BioShock. Vista with SP1 actually took the lead in Oblivion, but it's hard to ignore XP's(as usual) victories in Crysis and Team Fortress 2. SLI performance was decidedly better under Windows XP than Windows Vista with and without SP1 in almost all of the tests.

Does this mean XP is a better gaming machine ? The truth is out there!!

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How to Uninstall Windows Vista SP1 easily?

The Windows Vista SP1 RTM release came out only a few days back. But I am sure that already many of you may want to uninstall the Windows Vista SP1 - same case with uninstalling Vista.

Though Vista SP1 makes your system much more faster, stable, reliable and also add a whole host of new features too. But if due to any reason(personal preferences too) you want to uninstall SP1 and if you are doubtful regarding some questions. Then I have the uninstall procedure jotted down as an FAQ for you.

Well, How can I get rid of SP1 for good?
It's simple as ever. Goto control panel, click "Programs," then, in the next window under "Programs and Features," click "Uninstall a program."

Make sure to Click "View installed updates", then select "Service Pack for Microsoft Windows (KB936330)," and click "Uninstall."

How long does it take to uninstall SP1?
In normal circumstances it will take 20 to 30 minutes to uninstall the service pack. Similar to the installation procedure of SP1, the uninstall is a three-stage process. There is one reboot in the middle, then another nearer the end. If the middle restart doesn't happen automatically, however, so you have to stick around to click a button. The rest is hands-off :) .

Are there any SP1 bits left on the machine?
No, but the updates that Microsoft required prior to offering SP1 through Windows Update - dubbed "prerequisites" by Microsoft - will surely remain.

These include the January KB935509 update to BitLocker, and two others originally delivered in February - KB937287 and KB938371. As you may recall, the middle update of trio, KB937287, was reported that it had sent many users PCs into a death spiral of endless reboots. Microsoft yanked the update several days later from the automatic delivery list; users were still required to download and install it last week, however, before they were able to "see" SP1 on Windows Update.

Are there any other Microsoft-approved ways to uninstall SP1?
According to the KB948537 support document, the company says users can also roll back to a pre-SP1 state by using Vista's System Restore feature - but I really can't assure you if things go fine this route.

Microsoft spells out two options: one "offline" -- to be used if the PC isn't connected to the Internet or can't connect, perhaps because of SP1 -- and another dubbed "online." The former requires that you have your original Vista install DVD and a PC that will boot from the optical drive.

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Watch Out - Tomorrow's April Fool's Day

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to remind you that tomorrow is 1st April, 2008 - incidentally the April Fools Day. So watch out for any suspicious calls / mails / messages that you may receive from your near and dear ones. It could also be your colleagues or even your boss!!

Hope you do remember, that even the big corporates love to play the fool on 1st April - especially Google. This is what it did last year April Fool from Google :: This year we have the Gmail Paper and Google TiSP. So we can expect something this year too!!

The day is such that April Fool hoaxes sometimes makes people doubt real news stories released on 1 April.

All de Best!!

Cheers!!
Jason

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The Complete Keyboard :: Call it the All-in-One PC

I always prefer using light weight keyboard, but if a keyboard be equiped a full PC may that be over weight, I would still like to use that. Just check this out and tell me what do you feel about this really cool innovation!!

Simply place it on your desktop, plug in a monitor and you are done - my gosh!

This new generation All-in-One PC in a keyboard not only takes up far less desktop space, but also puts an Intel® Core™ 2 Quad CPU with all its features and performance at your fingertips. The new ZPC-GX31™ is a true innovation packing so much power, performance and compatibility inside a normal size keyboard. With features such as Dual Display capabilities, 4GB of DDR2/667MHz RAM, 1Gb LAN and DVI interface you now have a complete personal computer that takes up no more space than a typical keyboard.

• Cybernet All-in-One PC keyboard

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Limited Edition Pink Windows Vista!

What's so obvious with Pink and Japan. Well, we had toys, mobiles, candies, bags and a whole lot of stuff available in pink in Japan. Now you have a Vista in Pink!!

As a special promotion for the Japanese market we now have an upgrade version of Windows Vista Home Premium and best is that it is bundled with a year’s subscription of Windows Live OneCare and a copy of a Vista tips and tricks book. If that deal isn’t sweet enough, then you better know it comes in a pink box with little flower petals plastered all over. Imagine checking out of the electronic store with a copy of Crysis in one hand, and this in the other. Look out for the image below.

• Pink Vista

[Click on Image to Enlarge]

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Windows Vista SP1 Toilet Paper - It's really available now

The Japanese are simply hyping Vista SP1 release. I was just surprised to find that a roll of toilet paper printed with highlighted features is already available in Japan. You kind of have to feel a little bad for Vista -- it just keeps getting crapped on these days. Now available in a Toilet Paper Near You - so if the flush doesn't work, do you blame in on Vista then.

Also for some trivia now - If there is one place in the world that any gadget-electronic freak should go to, that is Akihabara district in Tokyo. Numerous stores bring on fascinating number of products, often first in the world. There are also products which are not so usual, nor you can find them in retail or e-tail in any other part of the world.

Some exclusive images below:

[Click on Image to Enlarge]

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Why is an investment in gold a good inflation investment?

An Investment in Gold is a Good Inflation Investment ONLY if the Return on your Investment is higher than the Inflation in the same period of time. If you invest in gold and lose 20% of your money in a year and that year the inflation in your country was 2% then your investment in gold was not a good inflation investment.

if you don't know what is Inflation - well, Inflation is an increase in the general level of prices of a given kind in a given currency. Inflation is measured by taking a "basket" of goods, and comparing the prices at two intervals, and adjusting for changes in the intrinsic basket. Gold is not a currency anymore and the Gold Standard is no longer used in any nation, having been replaced completely by fiat currency. Gold Prices are determined only by the market and the price goes down if everybody is selling and the prices go up if everybody is buying. I don't believe there is a relation between Gold and Inflation but I could be mistaken.

It may be good to some investors to invest in Gold now but this does not mean you should invest in Gold. Monex Deposit Company (MDC) is a 30 year old US based company. It allows you to purchase gold or other precious metals for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository.

Allocate not more than 10-15% of your portfolio to gold. "The timing to buy gold is not important. What's important is how much you allocate. According to me, only 10-15% of your portfolio should be allocated to gold. If you already have that much, do not spend your money on gold anymore."

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How to disable messages from being Marked as Read after Previewing in Outlook

Today I came across a strange problem working with Outlook at my new office. Whenever I click on a mail to PreView, it would open the mail in the previewing pane and also mark the mail as Read. This was kinda irritating for me, as I usually preview mails to glance on what it means. If needed I would open and read it - I expected Outlook to behave in such a way that it marks a message as Read only when I open it.

Turns out this problem that I faced is actually the default behavior of Outlook. So, I just went ahead and figured out how to stop this default behavior.

Here's how you can do it. Head over to Tools > Options and then click on the Other tab. Click the Reading Pane button to bring up the options(shown in screenshot above - click image to enlarge).

Just remove the selection on the checkbox "Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane". You'll notice that you can't also select the "Mark item as read when selection changes" box, which seems a little silly, but it's not important - it also needs to be unchecked.

Remember that you can always mark an item as read by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Q, which is really the fastest way to mark items as read.

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Ribbon to be natively supported in Windows 7

The people who are drafting the new user interface guidelines for Windows 7 plan to build the Ribbon, Jewel and “other new UI concepts” natively into the Windows platform.

Ultimately, they want software developers to avoid the prehistoric Win32 UI framework from no other than Windows 95. Instead, use this new lightweight and high performance markup-based UI framework to build “rich, graphics and animated user interfaces”. The Ribbon and Jewel (button in the top left corner) will be a part of this new framework.

I saw this on Microsoft job posting,
Come lead the effort to update the Windows 7 platform with the latest advancements in User Interface design. Bring the Ribbon, Jewel, and other new UI concepts to the Windows platform and work with internal partners and ISVs to update their applications to utilize these hot new UI technologies.

Our mission is to enable the next generation of user interface development on the Windows platform. We will be determining the new Windows user interface guidelines and building a platform that supports it. We’ll eliminate much of the drudgery of Win32 UI development and enable rich, graphical, animated user interface by using markup based UI and a small, high performance, native code runtime.

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Adobe Photoshop Available online for Free

Adobe - the makers of Photoshop (the makers of the most popular photo-editing software) yesterday launched a basic version of Photoshop available completely online for FREE. It is called by the name Photoshop Express - I guess they got the inspiration from the free set of programming tools from Microsoft also called as Express(btw, I really love the Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express Edition).

Photoshop Express will be completely online solution so registered users can use it from any type of computer, operating system and browser. Also, in it's current Beta stage it offers a staggering 2GB of disk space to store your photos online.

I did play around a bit with it last night and found it very cool. But I still love the Photoshop CS3 locally installed on my machine - coz I use it for many professional uses and use layers, text elements, custom drawings, etc which currently can't be done on the online version.

The other cool thing that I noticed on the online version of Photoshop Express was with the option to mail a photo to anyone(very intuitive). Also, it gives a direct url to access the image - I guess this feature will save a lot of bandwidth for those who host images on their servers.

But Adobe has entered the scene very late, there are already some big names in the internet who have a profitable business like the 9-year-old Shutterfly, also photo-editing service Picnik or image-sharing site Photobucket. I guess this attempt is for Adobe to showcase itself that it is very much in the online business like the big players Google and Microsoft who have a host of tools available online.

Here's what I did, click here to download the modified image as a wallpaper.
Original


Modified on Photoshop Express

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How to easily merge two partitions (C and D drive) in Windows Vista

Here are simple steps on how you can easily merge two partitions (C and D drive) in Windows Vista.

Follow the simple steps below:

• Click on Start in Vista.
  
• Go to Control Pannel (Follow steps pre-fixed 'A' for "Control Panel Home view" / 'B' for "Classic View").
• A: Click "System And Maintenance" (in green).
• B: Click Administrative Tools (the one with a big gear icon).
• A: Under Administrative Tools, click "Create and format disk partitions" (If a UAC prompt apears, click continue).
• B: Click "Computer management" (If a UAC prompt apears, click continue), Next click "Storage", then "Disk Management".
• On the list provided, right-click the letter drive you want to rid yourself off (say D:) and choose the option "Delete Volume".
• If you have done it right, a black area should appear within your entire disk space.
• Finally, right-click your drive you want to add the space to (say C:) and choose "Extend Volume" (by default, the wizard will choose ALL unallocated space to add to your Vista partition, but you can change that if you'd like.)

Hope that helped. Do let me know if you run into any issues with the steps.

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How to easily remove Windows XP from the Boot Menu - Have only Windows Vista

Some of you might be very satisfied with Windows Vista and would like to remove Windows XP for good. Also, remove Windows XP from the Boot options. Then follow these simple steps:

1. Boot into Vista and delete following 3 folders from C: drive:

• Program Files
• Documents and Settings
• Windows

2. Open System properties and click on "Advanced System Settings". Click on "Settings" button in "Startup and recovery" section and disable "Time to display list of operating systems" checkbox. Make sure Windows Vista is selected in "Default Operating System" drop down box. Apply it.

Thats all that you need to completely remove Windows XP from your system.

You can also follow this alternate method:

1. Format C: drive and then boot using Vista Setup DVD and select Boot Repair option. It'll re-write Vista boot loader.

Also, I'll not advise you to merge both partitions cause(assuming) your Vista is installed on D: drive and when you'll merge both partitions, D: will become C: drive and Vista might give errors while starting. So don't go for the merge option. I'll write a separate article later on how you can re-claim the partition into Vista.

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Windows XP SP3 RC2 - Now Available for Free Download!

The most awaited Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 is still in the Beta playground stage. But today Microsoft has released another version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (namely RC2) which is now available on Windows Update.

"Windows XP SP3 RC2 Refresh was made publicly available today via Microsoft Download Center," Microsoft said in a statement. "We've made this release candidate available in order to receive further user feedback prior to the release of Windows XP SP3."

Well, there isn't too much difference in the "refresh" from the RC2 version released last month. Well, the new SP3 has support for HD Audio.

For its part, Microsoft said the final release is still slated for some time in the first half of the year, with the standard caveat that its timing will depend on customer feedback.

You can Download Windows XP SP3 RC2 for Free from the below sites:

• Microsoft Download Center
• Download.com

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How to open .xlsx files easily without using Microsoft Office 2007

Well, you might be aware now that - Microsoft Office 2007 introduced a new file format called the Microsoft Open Office XML Format (.xlsx). But unfortunately this format is not compatible with older versions of Microsoft Excel(like Office Excel 2003 / Excel XP) or with alternative operating systems like Linux or Mac OS X. Nor is it compatible with other word processing applications like OpenOffice, Lotus 123, or NeoOffice.

Below are some easy solutions on how you can still open your xlsx files in other systems and also easily convert it to previous versions of Excel.

• Install the latest version of Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack and it'll be able to detect the .xlsx file format and help you convert it to .xls file format.
• Use the Online Solution found here to convert your .xlsx to be used in other formats too.

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BlackBerry may face a Ban in India soon - Watch Out

For those of you who maynot already be aware of this - BlackBerry may face a Ban in India soon. Yes - The Indian Government had officially asked the BlackBerry makers a.k.a Research in Motion (RIM) to provide the algorithms required to decrypt BlackBerry messages latest by March 31st, 2008 else face a total ban on BlackBerry services in the country. This move was entirely for security reasons, so as to protect the public from the anti-social elements of the nation who have off late become Gizmo freaks.

It seems that the Government of India has already issued a strict warning to all telcom players in India [Source: All major new papers dated today] to put in place necessary security systems within 15 days, else stop BlackBerry services. The "necessary systems" would definitely mean systems that would be able to decrypt messages/communication sent from a BlackBerry device.

Well, the implication of a Ban of BlackBerry services would be really huge in India. India currently has over 400,000+ users of BlackBerry services and they would all be affected.

RIM has on it's part clarified that the company operates in more than 130 countries, and that it respects the regulatory requirements of governments. However that it does not comment on confidential regulatory matters or speculation on such matters in any given country.

Well, we need to wait and watch on this rather tricky regulation.

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